Another protest against Ma Ying-jeou and China on 25th October in Taiwan

On 25th October, there was another demonstration in Kao-hsiung, Taiwan. Those who would like to support the big rally in Taipei but couldn’t make it to the north (some people had other commitments and coaches were fully booked on that day) gathered together to voice their concerns about and disapproval of Ma’s conduct.

This demonstration was not organised by the opposition party or any organisations. It was inspired by the one man protest staged by Mr Lin, Yu-ching in Kao-hsiung. Mr. Lin said that he voted for Ma in the election but got very disappointed at Ma’s performance. From September, Mr Lin would stand by a busy junction, holding up a sign saying ‘the incompetent Ma should step down’ between 17:00 and 18:00 every day. He was all alone in the beginning but gradually attracted people’s attention. Supporters then started joining him, standing over 1-1.5 meters between each other. Even before supporters started joining him, the police was asking questions. In theory, if he’s alone or the distance between people is over 1-1.5 meters, he doesn’t need any police permission and there’s no violation of the law but the police went there anyway.

Before 25th October, Mr Lin and his supporters decided to stage a protest against Ma Ying-jeou and China from the same spot (the same junction he’s been every day since September) on the same day as the big one in Taipei and rally in the street around. They called this the sixth route because there were 5 main marching routes in Taipei. To be sarcastic, they called themselves the ‘eliminating communist bandits’ group because Ma’s close embrace of the Chinese Communist Party is completely against his hero, Chiang Kai-shek’s and his ex-boss, Chiang Ching-kuo’s anti-communist principles. Chiang Kai-shek’s great grandson, Chiang Yubou once commented on the current KMT’s conduct with regard to the CCP in his personal blog (http://www.yubou.tw/Content.asp) that the KMT used to kill and supress Taiwanese in the name of ‘anti-commuism’ and if they want to soften their stance, the KMT need to properly explain and sincerely apologise to those persecuted and terrorised by them in the martial law era.

The organiser of this route, Ms Gu, was not experienced in street protests. When she filled out an application to ask the police permission for this, she put the number of protesters as 30 people. The policeman who handled her application recommended that she change it to 300 just in case, which she did. She also did not announce clearly the time of start and finish. To everyone’s surprise, a lot of people just went there early to wait and the number was much bigger than 300. According to a supporter who was there, approximately 2000-3000 people turned up.

The man in black top, black trousers and with a black cap is Mr Lin, Yu-ching. The man on the real size poster is Mr Frank Hsieh, the DPP presidential candidate in 2008. He used to the Mayor of Kao-hsiung and through hard work, determination and intelligent planning, he really turned things around for Kao-hsiung, turning an industrial and heavily polluted city into a modern, beautiful and very liveable place. People call this the Kao-hsiung miracle. The presence of his poster there, I think, says something about how much people in Kao-hsiung miss him and perhaps wished he had been elected.

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I am concerned that there will be no follow through after these marches. I believe Taiwan can get some positive international press by focusing on the missiles. The rest of the world understands missiles. Having people with signs outside of all the foreign “embassies” in Taipei with messages to that country in their own language to ask China to remove the missiles before talking to Taiwan. What country wants to negotiate with a gun to its head?

I have no idea how to get this information to anyone else who can do something about it.

A good point! Thanks. Although I don’t belong to any organisations that can do it, I’ll see what I can do to pass your message on to those who can.

Ma’s response to the protest was very arrogant. He said he heard people’s voices and understood that the government could have done better BUT he emphasises that his direction is the right one and he will not give up. In other words, he’s not going to change a thing.

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Taiwan, also known as Formosa, is NOT part of China. The majority of the population see themselves as Taiwanese, NOT Chinese. Taiwan is a democracy and therefore people there do not wish to be ruled by China, a dictatorship with poor human rights record and about 2,000 missiles aiming at Taiwan.